Home Sweet School
Home schooling's real threat to public schools is not the money [SOCIETY, Aug. 27]. No matter how you shift the dollars around, the bottom line in education funding is this: every child educated at home saves taxpayers money. Home schooling's real threat is in making clear that public schools--and the teachers, administrators and government officials who run them--are less successful in educating children than average parents with no special training or certification. LAURA DERRICK Austin, Texas
Stop putting teachers down! In the schools I have taught in, teachers work very hard to provide a quality education for all students. Along with their subject area, they have to teach character, morals and basic hygiene; deal with disruptive students; and tackle numerous other tasks. Schools have become the place where a child is not only educated but also raised. Teachers can't do everything. Schools should be the place to send your child to learn, not to be raised. REBECCA M. GILLESPIE Elkhart, Kans.
When people take their kids out of public schools, they essentially give up that ground to whomever wants to stay in it and dominate the education field. Without the participation of the most promising students and their parents, the educational system is likely to be at best dull and at worst oppressive. RANDALL H. COOK Durham, N.C.
Any trend that serves as a catalyst to improve our school systems should be revered and emulated. Loving parents do not sacrifice their own children's future for a stab in the dark at improving an overly bureaucratic public school system. We have chosen to home school in order to provide our children with a superior academic experience that is provided in a morally protected atmosphere. As Mark Twain said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." HENRY AND SONNYA VARENHORST Smithfield, R.I.
Unlike the majority of her public school peers, my home-schooled daughter knows what century the Civil War was fought in and where Vietnam is on the map. Her public school friends may know how many slaves Jefferson and Washington owned, but my daughter understands the revolutionary ideas--limiting government powers, assertion of individual freedom and natural rights--that these men fought for. H. JACK FEDER Austin, Texas
Home schooling doesn't threaten public education. Public schools threaten public education. CYNTHIA STEINWEDEL Peoria, Ill.
If public school students had the same parental drive behind them that home schoolers do, public schoolers' achievements would jump. Bottom line: it's a parent problem. ROBERT SIMPSON Indianapolis, Ind.
What home-schooled students learn is that you can withdraw from the community if it is convenient and check back in when you want. If all parents had the necessary resources and educational background, then home schooling might approach the equality-of-opportunity standard that characterizes our nation. It fails that simple test, and the smug, self-righteous superiority of home schoolers is not the stuff that makes a great people, regardless of the test scores. Get out in the community, and work to make your public schools better! Your attitude is intolerant and mean-spirited. LON C. THOMAS JR. High Point, N.C.